


Choice

by starlitsprout



Series: 23 Days of Wonder [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angel/Demon Relationship, Donghyuck stands up for himself because he's strong and independent, I'll get better at tagging one day, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sort Of, every time I see Mark I slam the uwu button, so I thought it'd be fun to write him as the not-angel idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28287066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlitsprout/pseuds/starlitsprout
Summary: Day #2 - AngelDonghyuck always gets visions before Mark comes home.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Series: 23 Days of Wonder [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071971
Comments: 8
Kudos: 59





	Choice

Donghyuck always gets visions before Mark comes home.

Sometimes they appear like shadows, flickering in his peripheral and quick to disappear when he turns his head. An outstretched arm, blackened with dust; a glint of something metallic, almost like a crown. There but out of sight. Watching him, surrounding him, protecting him.

Sometimes it's his friends that carry messages. The first time it happened, it was Jaemin.

That day had seemed to get dark unusually early, cutting Donghyuck and his sweet roommate Jaemin's summer day out short. They had left the small town's only cafe to head back to their dorm when Jaemin stopped dead in his tracks, voice cutting off abruptly. His grip on their ice cream had slackened, making it fall out of his hands almost in slow-motion. Next to him, Donghyuck had turned to look at his friend’s face with incredulity on the tip of his tongue, but eyes that were heart-stoppingly inhuman yet familiar met his, stealing the air from his lungs. The slitted pupils with purple halos left no questions of their original owner, and Jaemin started to speak with a tenor that ran like electricity down Donghyuck's spine.

“Sharing ice cream with pretty boys, baby? I guess I’ve been away for too long,” Jaemin-no, Mark- pouted. “See you soon then.”

Jaemin had already jerked out of his trance by the time Donghyuck figured out what's going on, looking confusedly at the ice cream melting on the floor with his own dark eyes. Donghyuck didn't know how much of the encounter Jaemin had been aware of, but Mark's promise had made him too floaty and hopeful to be concerned.

It didn't mean he let Mark get away with it though.

“I’m mad at you,” Donghyuck had said firmly, but he wasn't sure if he sounded convincing enough from his place on Mark’s lap. “Jaemin is just a child, he can’t risk having his spirit taken. Don’t possess my friends.”

Mark had only hummed in amusement, lips swollen and red, as he combs his hand through Donghyuck’s shock of purple hair.

“But your friends get to be around you all the time, especially your pretty roommate” Mark grinned, unrepentant. “And you know I get jealous easily.”

He only lifted his hands in surrender when Donghyuck had glared at him. “I’ll choose stronger ones, how about that? They won’t even realise I’m there, and I’ll leave their spirit alone. Mostly,” Mark amended, before he rolled to press Donghyuck into the bed beneath them and prompted him to forget their conversation.

Still, Donghyuck had applied for a single room for the next semester, just in case.

Most of the time though, he has dreams. These he hates the most, because it’s not Mark who sends them. The dreams come to remind him of the life, _the_ _family_ , that he chose to leave behind. They’re the most consistent vision he has, always coming to him on the same nights Mark returns, as though to emphasise the consequences of his decision, pushing guilt and nostalgia down his throat to pool in his stomach like rocks.

Tonight is no different. He wrenches himself awake gasping and in tears, just in time for Mark to appear and hold him with arms that still smell like earth and smoke.

“Who was it?” Mark asks after Donghyuck calms and they’re lying in bed, bodies intertwined.

Donghyuck shifts his head higher on Mark’s chest, fixing his eyes on the hollow of his throat and the sharp jawline above. There’s no heartbeat to listen to, but the rise and fall under him grounds him, making him brave.

“Taeyong and Taeil,” he replies, voice so quiet it almost blends into the nightly sounds of his little speaker playing music on the nightstand, and a lone car speeding down the street outside. Even saying their names makes his chest hurt.

“They really pulled out the big guns this time, huh,” Mark laughs, but it’s short and brittle. “What did they say?”

“What they always do. That they miss me, and that I still have time to change my mind.”

Mark doesn’t reply immediately, instead moving his arms to hold Donghyuck tighter against him. Familiar with this silence, Donghyuck waits.

“They’re right, you do still have time.”

It’s the last thing Donghyuck expects Mark to say, and he moves to sit up so that he can look at the other in the face and maybe yell at him, but Mark shushes him and pulls him back down.

Mark waits for Donghyuck to settle before he continues. “Do you remember the first time we met?”

Donghyuck snorts and he feels Mark smile against his hair.

“You walked into a room full of demons, and instead of avoiding us like your friends did, you came to me with your wings and your gorgeous smile and introduced yourself. I remember wondering what you were trying to do, giving your name to me of all people.”

“No one ever told me I shouldn’t give my name to your kind okay, I thought it was polite,” Donghyuck complains half-heartedly. “And I didn’t know who you were, you just happened to be the closest to me.”

“I was literally wearing a crown.”

“I thought it was a fashion statement!”

Mark really laughs this time, loud and almost childish, an unexpected sound from a prince of hell. It’s Donghyuck’s favourite thing about him. Now, it lifts some of the pressure off Donghyuck’s chest, giving him more space to breathe. He cuddles closer, hooking Mark's ankle with his under the dark sheets.

“You were radiant and bright and fearless, and I knew that I had to have you if you’d let me, never mind the consequences,” Mark breathes out, a long exhale carrying unspoken emotions. “But you were-are-also so very young, and now I...worry that you might come to regret giving up a life that you didn’t really get to live.”

“First of all, I’m 300,” Donghyuck retorts, the frustration that had ceased when he woke up building steadily again.

“Barely an adult, and also making you 800 years younger than me,” Mark counters, voice infuriatingly placid. “I’ve seen those much older than you come to regret decisions with far less severe repercussions.”

Donghyuck feels fear creeping up his throat, familiar and terrible. It reminds him of silent gilded halls, disappointment hidden behind tall wings, a voice of judgement banishing him to isolation. Instead, he shoves it down to give way to anger, the kind that tempts him to be irrational. Kicking Mark wouldn’t hurt him, but he still considers it. Instead, he moves away and sits up to tuck his legs beneath him.

Inhale, exhale. “When I made the choice to follow you, I knew what the consequences were. I knew what it meant to leave my family and go against the very purpose I was made for. I agreed to Fall and spend time in mortality because you promised that you would be at the other end waiting for me.” There’s a burning behind Donghyuck’s eyes, but he forces himself not to blink. Not when it might bring tears and prove the youth that Mark holds against him.

Mark is looking at him, his face carefully blank, but Donghyuck pushes through undeterred. His mind is frayed from seeing his brothers, and he’s so tired of others thinking they know what’s best for him. “I might be young by your standards, but you forget that Haechan held powers of foresight. It told me my future was you, and it told me you loved me. That’s enough for me. So you and everyone else need to stop trying to dictate my choices, because I’ve already made them, and this is it: _I don’t want to go back to being without you_.”

The silence that follows is tense. Donghyuck’s emotions suddenly rise up like a wave, engulfing him until he can’t bear to look at Mark and the emotionless mask he falls into like second nature. It’s like his confession breaks something between them.

Donghyuck turns to look at his window instead. There’s a pale light halo behind his curtains, signifying the early dawn. They have so little time left before Mark’s duties take him away again, and Donghyuck already misses him. It’s a shame that they have to part this way.

He starts when hands reach for his, and he turns back to see Mark lift his head and kiss his knuckles gently. He doesn't say anything, but Donghyuck knows this is the best apology Mark can give him. The tide eases.

“You’re my full sun,” Mark murmurs against his skin like a prayer. “My angel. I’d do anything for you, you know that."

Mark lifts his eyes to meet Donghyuck's and smiles slightly. With his changed eyes, he could have been one of Donghyuck's classmates.

"If it means waiting a few lifetimes for you to be beside me, so be it. They can’t keep you from me forever.”

Donghyuck falls back into warm arms, already trying to memorise the warmth that will leave him until their next stolen moment. “I love you,” he whispers.

Mark only presses a kiss to his forehead in response, but it’s alright. They’ll have the rest of eternity to say it eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> prompted by littlewonderfic's [23 Days of Wonder](https://twitter.com/littlewonderfic) fest.
> 
> possibly part of an existing wip *eyes emoji*
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/starlitsprout)


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